Tuesday, 29 November 2011

I am so excited I could burst! On Thursday the 1st December I am launching a wonderful GIVEAWAY. I am doing a post a day for 12 working days on some of my most absolutely favourite crafters/artists/jewelry designers/shops and giving away something they have made (plus one or two of my own artworks). All 12 items will be put into one delightful package for ONE winner. To keep for yourself or use as presents for Christmas. Followers can win by getting as many friends to follow my blog as possible, the person who gets the most friends to follow wins the whole bangshoot! On the 12th day leave a tally of your names on the post and then ta daaaaa amazing luckyness! On the first day of Christmas...

Friday, 25 November 2011

And she is done! Have been so excited working with simple paper masks and getting the result I wanted. Vinyls are much easier in some ways but restrictive in others. Wish we were going to CT for the opening!

Go to WAVESCAPES to see some of the boards by artists such as Brett Murray and Richard Scott.

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

So here is my set up for the next phase of my board which is the hand painted stuff, yippeeee! See my trusty lucky water bottle, I have had it for yonks! As I have been painting feverishly this post is not 'live', just nabbing a quicky while I'm waiting for something to dry. Am almost finished! Whew!

This is the board with the paper masks removed, I sanded the edges as the masking tape leaves sharp 'cut' lines which aren't so purdy. Distressed some of the white so blue shows through which worked out really well - happiness!

I really enjoyed painting the blue tattoo's, did a lovely watercolour like undercoat then the darker indigo detailing. I have not used the projector this time as we have had so much rain and the outside studio is not waterproof. Did not want to go Kaboom! It's weird it has actually made me less tense and I have enjoyed the the painting so much more. Just goes to show that old skool is cool.

I be lovin' my birdy! I can be really fussy about where eyes go, his is just right.

I have a severe case of painters finger hee hee. Goodnight Sleeptight.....

Sunday, 20 November 2011

Here I am modeling my new mask, so much of the clean lungs and no paint in the nose holes. Unfortunately only comes in this fetching shade of blue, which would not be my first choice. Normally I have one of the little white masks and I spray like mad while half holding my breath then run out the of the room.

Masked off and taped up Scott's side of the board so no overspray, was difficult as the air is full of moisture from all the rain so tape was not being very co-operative. Stick, bloody heck Stick!!

Here is my rough paper template, going to use it to mask off areas while I'm spraying. Vinyls pull the paint off so can't use them for this. Will project the linework and detail later, this is to get the shapes for the flat coats of colour. 21 A4's tiled by hand, still get distortion but not as crazy as the distortion that comes when the projector heats up. But it is a guide only so no worries.

Undercoat of bluebird blue is done. Have done the colour the heaviest at the top as it will be the only part that is staying blue. The rest of the blue will be covered by white, red and a peachy pink, will distress some areas and also leave overlap where blue will show through.

Next step was to cut away Signor Beluga, so I could mask the blue to spray the white. The evil tape is still like limp lettuce and took many minutes of sweaty attempts to get it to stick in the most lacklustre way. Hoping for a bit of mis-register/overspray anyway so not too stressed about it.

So the bits that you see that are blue will be white once it has had it's coats of white. Will tidy everything up with the linework which is the part that really pulls it all together but gives me palpitations.

This needs to be a stop motion animation then you wouldn't have to scroll down so much. Signor B has been coated, now I will stick the paper version of him over the white and cut away myself.

Here I am all cut away and nekkid.

Ready to spray the peachiness, will use a combo of pink primer, flat white and broken white to give a creamy finish with a slight rosy glow.

Voila! Peachy! Last undercoat will be red. This is the most difficult colour to get flat and the one I am usually the most fussy about in terms of hue as well. First need to stick my paper body back and cut away the hair leaving the bow covered as it will be bluebird blue.

Thursday, 17 November 2011

Because many of my lovelies are owned by felines I have added two very splendid cats to my SCANDI LOVE and NAUTI LOVE series. Clever Like A Cat introduces a serene siamese with steady blue eyes and a beautiful chocolate mask. A cat with an accent and an imaginary beret!

Let's Dream Of Fishing is my ode to black cats, particularly Monkeycat, our darling boy, whom we got to share for a little while. A real moggie, skinny and shiny, faster than greased lightning, who can smell tuna the minute you put can opener to tin. A sea cat, an alley cat, a yowly growly cat.

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

The next splendid artist on my list is Claudette Schreuders. I have loved her work so long time it hurts! She follows an amazing process in making her sculptures which begins with quick sketches, is documented in lithographs and then culminates in 2 weeks of carving. There is a lovely description of her influences and technique here

Isn't she beautiful, the muted palette once again but then the red shoes. Oh I am so partial to red shoes and these are shiny Mary Janes, temptation shoes, dancing shoes, storybook shoes.

Her work is also autobiographical and I am very interested in the subtle exploration of self and the environment that we are born into geographically and emotionally and physically. We share a place - a country - motherhood - being a separate person - a maker.

Monday, 14 November 2011

I love Doreen Southwood's painted bronze sculptures. It's been a while since she won the overall Brett Kebble for her The Swimmer, so it is really hard to find images of her early work online. She is the founder of the boutique MEMEME and an accomplished Fashion Designer. I was drawn to the Madonna like stillness and perfect muted palette.

The gloss of the paint and inherent melancholy reminds me of the large charity collection sculptures of a girl with yellow hair that used to be in shops.

Turns out Damien Hirst did a 22 foot high painted bronze of the statue called Charity.

Another artist who works with painted bronze is Mark Quinn, who portrayed Kate Moss as a yogi. I thought he was the sculptor that did the pregnant Britney Spears nude but that was actually Daniel Edwards.

Sunday, 13 November 2011

I first saw Hanneke Benadé's work at the Brett Kebble Art Awards in 2003. She won the category I was in with a beautiful piece called Shadowboxer. (It was the year Doreen Southwood won overall, with her amazing painted bronze The Swimmer, my next post.) I wish I could have seen her latest exhibition Reservoir, but it was in Bloemfontein. Images from the exhibition can be seen on the Art Times Facebook page and in the November issue out now.

Friday, 11 November 2011

Here is what my board will look like when it's all done! Will keep posting over the next 2 weeks to show the process. First step projecting the linework, penciling it on, then blocking in the main areas of colour and then distressing it a little, may even use the light aqua as an undercoat for the red.

Here is my layered Photoshop illustration which is my template for painting the board. Somethings may still be added on and I am thinking that I still want a ribbon somewhere with Moby & Me. Sometimes I need to get the image drawn up to scale and then see where things need to be jigged around. I am also still of two minds as whether to paint Moby's body an ice-white as it appears now or leave it the ivory of the board. Hmmmmm.

Not sure if you can see clearly but there will be co-ordinates sprayed on the board as a top layer. These are the directions to Mocha Island off the coast of Chile. Said to be the home of a famous albino sperm whale in the 19th Century, called Mocha Dick. Thought to be the inspiration behind Herman Melville's White Whale. In Mapuche Mythology the souls of the dead are believed to travel west to visit the island.

I have done a full body blue chinoiserie tattoo, I like the idea of their being Spode or Delft platters in the Captains cabin, probably not historically correct but no matter in the realm of imagination.